"You're so gay." "That is so retarded." "You're such a fag." One teacher was so fed up with hearing these words being tossed around her classroom and the hallways at the Richard N. Segerdahl Middle School that she decided to do something about it.

Nicole Wittschiebe, a third year Special Education teacher, brought the Get a Voice project to students in grades five through eight.

"We as teachers walk around the halls and in the classrooms and we hear words like this thrown around all of the time and we're sick of it," Wittschiebe said to a crowd of school administrators, teachers and seventh and eighth-graders on Friday, Jan. 28. "You use these words without even knowing what they mean. Other times you use them to bully people. Whichever way you use them, we want you to stop. You don't know how your words affect other people."

Wittschiebe asked students to take the Get a Voice oath. They can complete their oath by seeking out a teacher who is a VIP (Verbalist in Prevention).

"This is voluntary, we are not going to force this on you," Wittschiebe explained. "When you take that oath, it lasts for the school year and nobody can take it away from you."

To further emphasize the project's purpose, Wittschiebe invited players from New York's arena football team, the Dragons, to speak to the children about how harmful their words can be. Tight end Jermaine Miles began by explaining how "Get a Voice is all about positive and negative" and offered some suggestions when the students find themselves, or someone else in a negative situation.

"If you see someone going through an ordeal, give them positive reinforcement instead of negative," Miles said. "Try to use discretion when it comes to words."

The team's quarterback, Aaron Garcia said that the Get a Voice project is just as important to him as it is to the students and used the football field as an example. He also encouraged students to take the oath.

"We all have different blessings and we all have different talents," Garcia said. "Try to see that in your friends."

A PowerPoint presentation was then shown to the audience. Teachers on the Bully-Proofing Committee were actors in four skits. Each skit was shown twice, once portraying a situation where negative language was used and then again using Get a Voice techniques.

"You teachers did a whole lot of work on this," exclaimed Vice Principal Kathy Potorski.

The first skit involved four students completing a group project. One student began making negative comments against another. None of the other students in the group stood up for him. The skit replayed showed the same incident, only this time, with another student sticking up for the one being bullied. There was a loud roar of laughter both during and after the initial skit, however, by the time the presentation was on the fourth one, most of it had subsided. Potorski said, "it's really starting to set in."

As of two weeks after the assembly, Wittchiebe said the school had over 450 students take the Get A Voice oath.

"They just keep coming in," Wittchiebe said.